


Perfrisktionist

by ShibaInuit



Category: Undertale
Genre: AU, Each chapter is one reset, Female!Frisk, Frequent resets, Frequently revised, Gen, Genocide, Just suffer with the rest of us, Neutral Route, No Mercy, pacifist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-28 01:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 18,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8424682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShibaInuit/pseuds/ShibaInuit
Summary: Frisk enters the underground. Frisk fights enemies. Frisk wins. A perfectionist is controlling her actions, causing involuntary resets for even the slightest hits. Can she make it across the barrier before genocidal tendencies consume her? Rated T for dealing with dark concepts. Characters created by Toby Fox. Contains Female!Frisk. Also hosted on Fanfiction.net.





	1. Howdy!

FRISK LV 1 0:00

Frisk blinked in the low cavern light, feeling the oily slick surface of buttercups underneath. The air was musty, and smelled like boiled carrots. She rose, shutting her eyes off from the light. Briskly, she walked forward through a tunnel until she came upon a lonely flower.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey the-"

Frisk walked past the bright, yellow critter. It made a surprised face.

"Oh? I wasn't done talking!" Flowey dissolved into the ground, using his thorny vines to pop up next to the small child.

"Somebody ought to teach you some manners! I guess little old me," he had to dive and reemerge to continue: "-will have to do!"

Flowey made to approach to enter a battle, but the human moved too fast to engage. She routinely fled from him without leaving time to make a single move. To make matters worse for Flowey, the sun wasn't around to brighten the room. He could barely make out Frisk's face, obscured by a dark black backdrop.

"H-hold on!" Flowey screamed. The human didn't stop, dodging every single leaf and stem he could fling her way. The human's face grew ecstatic, cheerful, as though nearing an impossible goal.

Suddenly, Flowey shot a vine out and tripped her. The human's unpredictability faltered as Flowey wound his vines around Frisk: legs, arms, torso and all.

"Ah hah! I'll have you know that was very---


	2. Howdy! Again

FRISK LV 1 0:00

Frisk blinked in the low cavern light, feeling the oily slick surface of buttercups underneath. She rose, hiding her eyes from the light. Briskly she walked forward through a tunnel until she came upon a flower.

"Howdy, I'm-"

Frisk broke into a run. Her feet pounded against the ground, cracking the dry earth. Dust kicked up into Flowey's face.

"...I'm really annoyed that you keep doing this."

More vines. Flowey surged forward, plant stems outstretched, periodically catching up to the human. Each time, she managed to evade his blows; the whips of Flowey's blade-like stems bounced off of the rocky cavern.

"Golly! You're a pain-"

Finally, Flowey had her cornered. It had taken two tries, but it was possible.

A wall of vines surrounded the human at every exit. Up, down, left, right, even south and north: covered in vines. Only the ambient cerise light of Frisk's soul lit up the empty cavern. He closed in on the light.

"See that? That's the culmination of your very being, your SOUL. I bet it's filthy on the inside."

Frisk stared blankly, immobile. She seemed neither afraid not eager, just passively there.

"You sure know how things work around here. In this world, after all... it's kill or be killed!"

Flowey spawned a small wave of bullets, lining them up in a perfect circle around Frisk. Flowey began chuckling erratically, which made his entire body shake. Crumbles of dead plant matter brushed against Frisk as they rained down from the impromptu vine enclosure.

"Heh, since you were so rude... DIE!"

The orb of white projectiles descended at a furious pace, slamming into Frisk. She didn't move, clinging to her one HP, which flailed wildly under its own weakness.

"Whoops! Careless me. Guess we'll just have to take our sweet time~!" Flowey stuck his tongue out playfully, letting vines creep closer to Frisk. More bullets surrounded her.

"Oh!" someone exclaimed. There was the sound of a lit match.

Suddenly, Flowey contorted into a knot. His right side had caught aflame.

"Mmmmmmmmo-!" Flowey retreated underground, half cackling, half crying.

"What a terrible creature, attacking such a poor, innocent youth! Are you alright, my child?"

Frisk stood statue still. The new voice presented itself as a stately goat, garbed in a lilac and periwinkle. Her dark red eyes glimmered with hope, her hand smoked with vestiges of flame magic. She smelled like freshly baked cookies.

"Come, my child! The ruins is no safe place for a human. Please, follow me."

Frisk walked methodically towards the new figure, almost mechanically. Every movement was the same speed, and upon closer inspection, it could be seen that only one of her legs was moving at a time. The same blank expression covered the human's face as before: eyes lidded, mouth a tight, inexpressive line.

The goat lady put a paw on Frisk's rounded scalp.

"My name is Toriel. I come here every day to check for fallen humans. You are the first to drop by in a long time!"

Frisk followed Toriel at that same, steady pace as the goat lady gabbled about the ruins. When she stopped, Frisk automatically moved ahead, flipping two switches along the walls.

"My, that was fast!" Toriel gasped. "Perhaps you already know a little about the underground...?"

Toriel gestured to a cloth dummy, whom Frisk rudely disregarded. She dashed around her new guardian and into another hall. Toriel gathered her skirts, feet skipping over the purple floor. The pair arrived in another corridor. Frisk looked especially inattentive to her surroundings.

"Oh, my child, take my hand. This puzzle is too-"

Frisk moved across the spiked puzzle on her own. Toriel gave a startled exclamation before showering her with praise.

"You solved it! What a smart boy you are."

Frisk turned around, freezing in place. She stared at Toriel with an intense expression, eyelids flat and mouth a disapproving straight line.

"M-my, perhaps I was mistaken?"

Frisk nodded passionately, displaying the most expressive gesture since she fell.

"I see. What is your name, sweet child?"

Frisk did not speak, instead turning around and continuing forward, forcing Toriel to rush forwards to keep up.

They came into an empty room with one column at the end.

"I must ask you, my child, to make your way through this room-"

Yet, Frisk was already at the end, darting through the doorway.

"WAIT! For safety's sake, stop running so far ahead!" Toriel dashed after the errant child, feet pounding and claws clacking against ancient stones.

When Toriel finally caught up to the child, she grasped Frisk by the sweater, lifting her in midair. "My goodness, you're fast, little one! If you'd like to explore the ruins, I won't stop you-"

The human kicked her legs again, aching to be on the ground, but Toriel did not let go.

"Here, I'll give you a cell phone and my number. Call me if you need anything. Oh, and my house is at the end of these ruins. You're plenty welcome to stop by! I'll even have a surprise waiting for you!"

The dialogue flew over Frisk's impatient head.

"Alright, go on and play. I'll call to check in after a while, alright?"

Frisk was already zooming down the hall with pent up energy, tripping into a pile of red leaves. After crinkling through them, Frisk resumed her journey. She jumped upwards into a room filled with monster candies, snagging so many that she knocked over the bowl. Even then, the little human snatched as many as her pockets could hold, and a timer ticked slowly down-

At five seconds, Frisk had seven candies in her hand---


	3. Something Sweet

FRISK LV 1 0:07

Dashing out from a pile of red leaves, Frisk resumed her journey. She jumped upwards into a room filled with candies, snagging so many that she knocked over the bowl. The timer chimed at each second until, at the five second mark, Frisk's hands contained 8 of the candies.

The human kicked once more through the leaves before racing down the hall. A Froggit appeared. Frisk suddenly produced a stick from her sleeve, staring down the Froggit with a cool gaze.

The frog croaked.

That settled, Frisk moved on to the next hallway. A lone rock stood bravely in her path. She pushed the rock with hardly a fraction of her might, and in a moment, came across a Whimsun huddled under the stone. It shook its wings, delicately keeping afloat.

Its heart fluttered.

Again, Frisk tore down the hall. Three more rocks waited, but Frisk didn't require the services of two of them. With a huff, Frisk picked up the southernmost rock, lifting it across the floor and onto a switch as it protested. From her pocket, Frisk withdrew a battered Monster candy, gnawing at it until its bubblegum core smacked like rubber. When the outer shell had dissolved into a handy 10 HP, Frisk tipped the rock upwards, spit out the gum, and slammed it on the switch. The rock fell back into place, exclaiming all the while in fright.

It tried in vain to leap from its perch, but it was stuck firmly in place by the magical gummy candy. Now, Frisk wouldn't need to tangle through extra dialogue.

Frisk walked through the deactivated spikes without fear.

The rock moved, and there was a horrifying KER-SPLAT---


	4. Exploring the Ruins

FRISK LV 1 0:07

Dashing out from a pile of red leaves, Frisk resumed her journey. She already had 8 candies in her pockets.

Again she tangled with the dreaded puzzles, falling into a pit of leaves, moving the first rock, and again addressing the Whimsun and Froggit in her path.

Once at the large, movable boulders, Frisk took a no nonsense approach, lifting one of the two compliant rocks and depositing it on a switch. The spikes departed from view. Even better, she still had all 8 candies! The vocal rock, however, was not pleased with this scenario, and yelled at her.

Moving forward, Frisk navigated another puzzle of dangerously cracked tiles, flawlessly avoiding the pitfall trap. Somewhat rebelliously, Frisk kicked at the leaves under the sign. She purposely avoided falling through the gap.

Suddenly, the phone rang. After mild deliberation, Frisk picked it up.

"Hello! I was wondering... Do you prefer Cinnamon or Butterscotch?"

Frisk answered.

"Really? Thank you. Butterscotch it is!"

Frisk wasn't quite done, however. She further intimated that she loved Cinnamon almost as much, and that she had no allergies. Toriel nervously thanked her for the information, hanging up.

A line of Moldsmals tripped up.

Migosp danced off stage.

Frisk was filled with determination at the sight of some abandoned cheese.

Following these seemingly unrelated actions, Frisk entered a room with gradually narrowing walls. A pile of red leaves sat dejectedly in the center of the room, blocking the junction between two halves. To add to the disheveled state of the unkempt room, a crumpled while sheet was draped over the pile, along with a spare set of headphones.

The sheet muffled out a series of characters. It was in the way.

Frisk moved the sheet with force.

The sheet popped into three dimensions (at least, as three dimensional as things got Underground) and dropped its headphones. A jazzy tune blared into life.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone else came here," it said.

Frisk's stick seemed to vibrate with energy as she stared down her weeping target.

Napstablook cried out.

Frisk departed the now vacant chamber, holding a pair of headphones. She decided this was her new favorite song, and she posthumously ripped off her soggy bandage, discarding it on the ruins floor in order to better spend the time appreciating art.

Frisk entered a room to the right, filled with cobwebs. She left some small metal coins in the ground before taking a Spider Donut and a jug of Spider Cider. Her pockets were full, but she was able to hold the jug in the crook of her arm and balance the donut on her forehead.

Frisk then wandered into a room full of cracked floor tiles. Frisk leapt into one, in the top middle section, to activate an exit switch.

Veggetoid was devoured.

Settled into the routine of life, Frisk raced headlong through rooms full of switches into the last hallway.

Loox was picked on. Another Loox was also picked on.

There was a branch in the road here, ceremoniously ignored. Frisk instead took the path deeper into the ruins, where the vestiges of a city were crumbling in the distance. There was a glint of chrome on the ground-

Frisk snatched up a toy knife with the sort of conviction that doesn't come from ordinary survival. There was a, dare-I-say, inhuman look about the child as she tested the tiny slicing implement in her palm with a twirl. She discarded her stick, throwing it easily over the wall of the ruins where she couldn't reach it.

Frisk raced through the abandoned road, upwards, back to the other branching path.

In moments, her phone rang again.

Frisk grabbed the phone, but looked up just in time to see Toriel shuffle out from behind a barren tree.

"Hello? My ch- Oh! You're here!"

Toriel's phone slipped out of her palm, but Frisk caught it in mid air, moving with inhuman speed.

"Thank you, my child! Come, come, may I show you my gratitude?"

Frisk raced up, waiting patiently at the pile of leaves in front of the house. A yellow glint invaded her eyes.

Toriel opened the door, grabbing the child by the sweater again.

"Now, please, remember to wipe your feet off on the mat. We don't want to track mud in, right?"

Toriel guided the squirming child to the first door on the right.

"This is your room! There's a bed, a lamp, toys, everything a growing little girl needs! I painted it pink for you."

Frisk looked around the room. Striped clothing filled a pale boudoir and next to that sat a box of child's shoes in a disparity of sizes. There was a bin of toys, all of which she ignored, and a stray paintcan that Toriel was busy shuffling aside. Frisk set the spider donut and the jug of cider on the night table.

"Alright, my child. What shall I call you?"

Frisk pointed at a previously unnoticed, red name tag sticker on the front of her shirt.

"That's a lovely name, Frisk. I shall be sure to remember it."

Frisk nodded triumphantly, still not quite cracking a smile. She moved towards the door Toriel was blocking.

"You seem determined to move. Alright, be good-"

Frisk zoomed out of the house, right into the lawn.

Toriel followed; Frisk was playing in the leaves again when that strange look came over her eyes.

The motherly goat shook her head and went inside to check her pie, and maybe settle into a good book to share with her newly acquired pupil. If she was as eager about learning as she was about running around, Toriel had to step up her game!

~.~.~.~

The human lay quietly in the pink bed covers. Toriel crept by, and opened the door with the all gentleness of an experienced mother. Gingerly, she padded over the carpet, turning off the light switch and winding a toy music box. It hummed the gentle sonata of HOME.

Suddenly she got a brilliant idea, and she wandered into the kitchen, hacking away at something before plating it.

Then she scooted back into Frisk's new room, setting her efforts on the red rug.

~.~.~.~

Frisk woke up some time later, turning immediately from the covers and falling flat onto the cushioned floor. There was a crunch, a kersplat, and a scream, while Toriel came running from the kitchen. As her new mother's footsteps shook the hardwood flooring, Frisk turned her head to notice a ceramic shard jutting out of the left of her shoulder.

There were several more poking rather painfully into her back---


	5. Pie, but for Breakfast

FRISK LV 3 0:24

After reawakening in the bushes and taking a second nap,

Frisk got up normally from bed, swinging her feet over the sides into the plush rug. Little orange ringlets encircled strands in the fabric, weaving a loopy ring pattern around the whole carpet. In the center left of that carpet, Frisk's left, there sat a beige plate with a slice of pie resting atop it. Frisk looked in her pockets, where most of the wrapper-less monster candies had melted together in one giant ball.

That left seven whole inventory slots open! Well, minus the two spider goods. So, 5 inventory slots, and 4 with the pie.

Frisk picked up the confection and pocketed it. Sugar and liquid butterscotch ran down her thighs.

She ran into the main room, the kitchen, and greeted Toriel. Despite her previous lack of emotion, Frisk gave Toriel a warm, genuine smile, and Toriel returned it, taking Frisk onto her lap.

"Good afternoon, Frisk! I hope you slept well."

Frisk pointed to Toriel's book on snails.

"Oh? If you need something, my child, you can always ask."

She suddenly noticed the liquid dribbling down Frisk's shorts' pocket.

"My, you're messy today! Is... Is that my pie?"

Toriel gave Frisk a stern look---


	6. And the World Shuddered

FRISK LV 3 0:24

Frisk was playing in the leaves again when that strange look came over their eyes.

Toriel shook her head and went inside to check her pie. Frisk wobbled a little, falling on her rear into the pile of leaves. This reset was more disorienting, because while Frisk's mind was alert from another timeline's nap, her current body was exhausted from running around. When she came to again, she stood, went in the house, and settled into the sheets for another nap. It took much longer for her to fall asleep.

Frisk woke up, remembered not to fall onto the pie, picked up the plate, and entered the kitchen, bypassing Toriel.

A little Tupperware container with a red lid now housed the butterscotch pie, which Frisk pocketed with immense difficulty, as Tupperware doesn't fit into pockets.

"Oh, Frisk, if you would like to save that pie for later, I can get you a backpack to carry it in."

Frisk nodded with enthusiasm, but still had trouble articulating her newfound emotions.

"Alright, it's somewhere around here..."

Yet... Frisk already knew where to look, racing to the appropriate drawer in the main hall and pulling it out for Toriel to see. It was green, with yellow straps. There was a faint stain on the top corner, likely from a permanent marker.

"Yes, that's for you! But how did you know where it was?"

Frisk shrugged, depositing the pie, monster candy and spider goods in her new backpack. Toriel hummed thoughtfully. The child ran out of the kitchen, and downstairs, down the stairs she wasn't supposed to leave from...

Toriel chased after Frisk, feet kicking headlong, but only barely catching up.

It was so fast. Everything happened too fast. Toriel reflected on the race for the pie, then the race for the bag Frisk shouldn't have known was there, and the race for this secret door. Toriel dropped to her knees. The child probably hadn't thought of how difficult coming back into the ruins could be. The child had no clue that the door only opened one way...

Unless she did, like the other strange things she knew without any sort of experience.

In a last ditch effort, Toriel snagged the back of Frisk's sweater, clutching the fabric tightly.

"You can't go past here. It's dangerous. Go back to your room."

She set Frisk on the ground behind her, using her body to block the door. She spread her arms and tried to make herself look tall, giving her sternest expression.

Frisk stared with eyes lidded, gaze fixed, seeing past Toriel's own steely gaze. Flames appeared in her adopted mother's hands. It smelled like smoke in the musty, purple basement. A battle of wills roiled behind Frisk's closed off face.

Toriel faltered.


	7. Sense of Self

FRISK LV 3 0:24

Frisk awoke in the pile of leaves, body exhausted from a lack of nap, mind aching from the weight of what she had done.

It felt like Toriel's dust was still between her fingers. Frisk cried into her miraculously clean hands, but she knew better. The blood was there, just... stuck in another timeline.

"I'm not a killer," she whispered to the stale, underground air. "I'm not."

The jazzy tune in her headphones died. Her whole body swooned. She couldn't keep forgetting to save after her nap like this. Again she went inside for her third, yet still first, nap that day.

Toriel said something about her tracking in mud, but Frisk hardly noticed. She didn't want to look her victim in the eye.

She jumped into the covers, spreading said mud all over the pink cotton sheets. She shut her eyes, but it was no use. Her body settled into the mattress but her mind and her heart bled with the weight of her sins. She felt her LOVE, already too large a number from earlier kills, weighing her deeper into the bed. Tears pooled around her neck, the sheets growing damp.

She hadn't rested at all. Hardly a few minutes had passed, and there was no ghostly music to send her asleep, unlike in other timelines. Toriel came in later with a slice of pie, setting it on the ground. Frisk stayed silent, controlling her breathing so as not to scare her host. When the door shut, Frisk got up and looked at the pie.

The monster candies hadn't melted into a ball yet, so she didn't have the extra inventory slots to store it.

She took a nibble of the sweet pie, crying as its flaky, loving flavor coated her mouth. She had killed this pie. She had killed every pie. She had killed every pie that Toriel had ever made, it would ever make.

She set the plate back on the ground and cried again, quietly.

The door creaked slightly open. Frisk leapt with a start, running under the bed to avoid notice.

"Frisk?" Toriel saw the plate and the tear stains on Frisk's pillows. "Is something wrong?"

Frisk didn't move. Toriel approached, gently, in rhythm with the music box in the far corner.

"It's alright, dear. I'm here for you. Would you like a hug?"

Frisk retreated further.

Toriel crouched, perplexed, extending a soft paw. "Have I said something? Is there something you need? Please, my child, let me help."

Frisk---


	8. Sharp Reflexes

FRISK LV 3 0:24

Again in the field of leaves, Frisk cried. Her head in her hands, exhaustion wove its way in and out of her. Toriel... She needed to hug Toriel in this timeline.

She ran in the house, wiping her tears and muddy shoes off absently, before running into the kitchen.

She gave Toriel the warmest, tightest embrace she could manage.

"M-my child? You surprised me!"

Toriel set down several kitchen utensils on the table and returned Frisk's hug.

There was a sudden clatter of plastic. Frisk turned with a start as Toriel picked up the offending item- the toy knife.

"What's this? It looks dangerous---


	9. Growing Awareness

FRISK LV 3 0:24

Frisk stood in the pile of leaves. The tear stains were gone. The headphones were playing. The knife still waited snugly in Frisk's waistband.

Frisk shook her head. After a moment to steel herself, she took inventory. Eight monster candies. Holding two spider goods. No pie. Needed a nap. Hadn't hugged Toriel. No backpack. LV 3.

She stood, indecisive, as the ghostly music chirped.

She had killed Napstablook for that music. She had managed to kill something noncorporeal just because she wanted to rob it. How had that even worked? Shouldn't that have been impossible? A wayward memory appeared in her head.

Was she even herself anymore? Was she doing these things? She recalled doing them, but each memory felt blank. She didn't remember having thoughts or dreams or ambitions during them. She remembered... Just feeling numb. Feeling nothing. Now, she felt something.

What was this newfound morality? She couldn't say.

She skipped the nap. She skipped the pie. She walked straight in the house, and then straight down the stairs to the cellar, which was a feat considering she still held/balanced the spider goods.

Toriel emerged behind her with a kind word and an outstretched hand-

Frisk bolted. She bolted as far as her feet could take her before Toriel had her by the sweater.

"My child, I know you like to run---


	10. Digesting Information

FRISK LV 3 0:24

Again Frisk ran in the house, not caring about the loud thunderclaps of her muddy shoes on hardwood, instead darting down the steps and through the hallway without care for what was behind her.

Toriel again snatched her by the collar. Frisk squirmed this time, pushing away from the iron grip, kicking out at Toriel so that she could just let go-

"Stop!"

Frisk hung her head guiltily.

"You cannot go this way."

"..."

"This path is dangerous. Please don't do that again." Toriel half dragged, half carried a limp Frisk to the stairwell.

"And please don't kick me, I'm trying to protect you."

Frisk thought the same thing as the headphones around her neck died. The spider goods had been dropped and trampled in her headlong spree for Snowdin.

Upstairs again, Toriel walked Frisk to the living room. "Let's read a story book, alright? This one's called 'Fun Snail Facts.' Would you like to read it?"

Frisk shook her head.

She sighed, settling into her guardian's lap, letting Toriel speak about snail digestive systems---


	11. Finish Everything

FRISK LV 3 0:24

Frisk stood in the pile of leaves. Her heart was screaming at her, searching desperately for something creative to do, to make it out from the house without escaping.

She started noticing a voice in her own head. She didn't like it.

"Perfect," it said. "Finish everything."

Frisk panicked, dropping the spider goods, breaking the jug by accident---


	12. A Different Conviction

FRISK LV 3 0:24

The new voice scared her, but in this timeline, it was louder.

"Go back," it said. "The column room has the highest encounter rate."

She dare not reset again. The voice was already stronger than it had been.

"No," she said to herself. "Killing is wrong."

There was no response. Had the day's delirium made her go crazy? She pushed her fear aside.

This was it. This was the timeline, she promised herself, where she would not kill. She would make it as far as she could without killing.

She took her nap. The candies melted, the pie was tupperware'd, backpacked and she stored the spider goods, too. That left four inventory slots. She saved in the patch of leaves, so that at least she wouldn't need to take yet another nap. Still not quite ready to face fate, she went back inside, walking into her room to strategize in peace. The whole house smelled of warm pie.

Frisk still had the knife, but now no stick. She grabbed the toy knife from her belt, spinning it once in her sweaty palm. It wasn't going to be necessary. It had done enough damage in other timelines.

With the same conviction she had when she first picked it up, she held it over the toy chest, and opened her fingers.

It defied gravity somehow, staying in her hands.

"Perfect. Finish everything."

She shook, trying to wing the knife into the air. It stayed locked in her palm.

She tried sliding it into her belt again. It came off, sitting diligently where she placed it. Why? She shook her pants, but the knife didn't fall out. It stayed glued to her waist, as before.

Was she never going to be able to get rid of it? She had never tried dropping the stick.

That stupid yellow glint that looked her in the face every time she saved felt threatening now. If that gleam would only let her go farther back, she could undo her mistakes all the way. Befriend Toriel, the spiders, the Froggit, Whimsun, the rock, the spikes, the Veggetoid, the two Loox, the Migosp and Moldsmals. LV 3, back to LV 1.

She stood, left the room, and approached Toriel, backpack on her shoulder.

"Hello, Frisk! Say, would you like to come read with me?"

Frisk nodded, sitting on her guardian's lap, leaving the backpack on the ground. This time, Frisk was going to do right.

"This may come as a surprise to you... But I have always wanted to be a teacher! I prepared a curriculum for you, and all kinds of nice surprises. I think you'll like it here a lot, even if you've seen most of it already."

Frisk wasn't sure how to respond. How did Toriel know she had seen this all before?

"Toriel..." Frisk began. She stopped. She didn't remember ever speaking before. Her face, in those last resets, she remembered being locked into place. No, wait. That wasn't right. She had spoken already, and her first words were "I'm not a killer." She had to try to live up to that reputation now, and not just by running away.

"My child, what ails you?"

"...How can I go home?"

Toriel's face looked hurt, but forgiving.

"This is your home, now. Oh! I know what will make you feel better! Let's hear some fun facts about snails. Did you know..."

Frisk muttered with her: "that snails make terrible shoelaces?"

Toriel again bore that hurt expression.

"Have you already seen this book? My child, you know so much about the ruins, it's like you've already lived here."

Frisk used that to bore into her next terrible question:

"How can I leave the ruins?"

The sad face that stared at her seemed to suspect something.

"Are... is..." She had to gather herself. "Is... your name Frisk?" Her motherly gaze turned steely.

Frisk nodded, slowly. Why would she ask?

"Do you like chocolate?"

Frisk didn't mind chocolate, but it wasn't her favorite. She shook her head.

Toriel returned to normal. She shut the book, and stood, letting Frisk slide off her lap onto the floor.

"I have something I need to take care of. I'll be right back, this should only take a moment. Wait here."

She set Frisk on the couch and left for the basement.

Frisk followed her at a controlled pace.

No resets. She had pie. She had headphones, she had the knife, the monster candy ball, two spider goods and her new emotion, determination.

The two met, just past the staircase.

"Every human who falls here meets the same fate," Toriel began narrating. Frisk had heard this before, somehow.

She spent the long walk contemplating her hopes of succeeding. Would she actually get past Toriel this time? It could be done, she knew, but that voice in her head was starting to send tremors up her right leg.

"They come, they leave, they die."

Frisk... didn't reply.

"If you continue this way... ASGORE will kill you."

Frisk, in her memories, recalled something. Toriel was once married to Asgore. Or maybe, they had never been divorced. She didn't know how the family was connected before, just that they were disconnected now.

She felt all the worse for being about to leave Toriel behind again.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. But... No. That can't be."

Frisk's attention was secured on Toriel's somber, burgundy eyes. They had already reached the end of the tunnel. A door bearing the delta rune met them.

"Very well. If you are sure... Prove to me your strength!"

The battle began.

Toriel launched volleys of fire, around which Frisk dodged. Each blow managed to curve away, most not scathing her. Heat licked delicately at her heels, urging her backwards.

Frisk dodged, deliberately plotting a course to get closer and closer.

"What are you doing?"

More dodging. Toriel guarded her center well, pulling little sinusoidal patterns out of thin air. Frisk was repeatedly forced to duck and weave, and one step would result in a burn.

"PERFECT!" The voice was crying, louder than ever, "NOT ONE SCRATCH!"

Spare, Frisk willed.

Spare.

Spare.

Frisk put more muscle into her step, eventually at the skirts of Toriel's robes.

Spare.

The goat was a little too good, however, sending a gloved hand forward, flames homing in, Frisk brushed one---


	13. Spare Change

FRISK LV 3 0:38

She could have swore, but she didn't have it in her. That strange voice had somehow made her reset.

"Perfect. Go back."

Frisk pushed through the feeling. It wasn't herself. She could still... do something. In this timeline, she had her backpack full of goods, but hadn't spent enough quality time with Toriel. Maybe things could be easier that way.

Frisk broke into a run for the stairs. Like her first few tries, she made it almost to the door when she was caught by the back of her sweater. The headphones still worked in this timeline, and their song became sadder.

Frisk chose not to fight.

Spare.

Spare.

Spare.

Each movement brought her closer to Toriel. Thanks to recent practice and the fact that her body was refreshed again, she was able to make more progress much quicker.

Spare.

Spare. It became a mantra.

She was able to get close enough to touch Toriel's robes when the barrage of fire ended.

"My child... Fight back..." The plea was half hearted.

Spare.

The flames died midthrow.

Spare.

Spare.

_Spare._

"Oh. I cannot save even a single child."

Toriel knelt, hugging her adopted daughter.

"I know you would not be happy here. The ruins are very small, once you get used to them. Please. Once you leave, keep walking and don't look back. If you do..."

She nuzzled into Frisk's tangled hair.

"Asgore... Asgore will kill you."

The hug lasted for a long time. By contrast, it had only taken moments to step outside into the cold, and hear the giant door latch itself shut. The sound of a generator oscillated nearby, but Frisk wasn't concerned about it.

She stepped into the bushes, staring directly into the camera. Should she uproot it, or leave a message?

She didn't have any paper. It wasn't worth a reset to go back for some, so Frisk let it be and moved on. Right on cue, she heard a twig snap behind her. She paid no mind to Sans. He wouldn't bother her much in this timeline, if she played her cards right. All she had to do was find a save point sometime soon, and she knew after she could get to it after meeting the other skeleton brother.

" **HUMAN.** "

Frisk stood ramrod straight. How was she already at the gate? She hadn't noticed. Should she turn around yet?

" **DONT YOU KNOW HOW TO GREET AN OLD PAL**?" He held out his hand.

" **TURN AROUND AND SHAKE MY HAND.** "

Frisk turned. She shook his hand, totally unafraid. It emitted a loud _flarp_!

"*ah, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. gets 'm every time."

Frisk laughed right on cue. It almost brought a smile to Sans' face, but then again, he was already smiling.

"*so, you know youre a human, right?"

Frisk nodded.

"*im supposed to catch humans. but maybe, just this once i can let you pass. truth is, ive never been good at catching 'em."

Frisk knew this.

"But your brother, he's a human hunting fanatic, right?" she said, completing the train of thought.

Sans' face stopped. The pinpricks of white in his eyes vanished. His smile flattened, his own slouch straightened, his hands froze in his pockets. Frisk suddenly noticed something about those words.

They weren't hers.

She nearly reset, but remembered that had only made things worse last time.

"*so. its you."

"You know about m-"

"*not you, kiddo."

Sans made a full turn 90 degrees to the right, clockwise.

"*you."

Frisk wasn't sure to what he was referring.

"Sans... I have a bunch of memories of you, but I don't know if we have really met before. Do you... Have some memories of me?"

Sans turned his unblinking, unfeeling face around to Frisk again.

"*maybe we should start over. after all, paps will be here any minute. behind the lamp you go."

Sans pushed her through the gate, but she was cooperative enough to get behind the lamp on her own, and not a minute too soon.

Papyrus, prospective member of the Royal guard, berated Sans for his laziness. His puzzles hadn't been recalibrated in days, and all he did was boondoggle, despite Sans's half hearted assertion otherwise.

Frisk felt that something was off, but hadn't picked up what it was yet.

Papyrus eventually left, leaving boot impressions in the snow that easily dwarfed her own feet.

"*isnt he cool."

"I think he's really nice."

"*sometimes a little too nice. dont take advantage of it."

Frisk nodded, sure that there would be no need to hurt Papyrus.

"*now, about your problem. theres a lot for me to tell ya, but out here still isnt the place. meet me in snowdin, you know where."

"Your house, or Gri-"

"*neither."

Frisk cocked her head.

"Where else do you hang out?"

Sans' expression dimmed again. He shrugged.

"*lets make this easier. tell me everything you know, and you can have most of what i know. no better offer."

Frisk nodded. "Ok. I don't really know where to start..."

"*start at my house in snowdin in about twenty minutes. i'm taking a break."

Sans walked away, somehow lazily yet quickly at the same time. Frisk felt dumbstruck, but suddenly came to several realizations: she was numbingly cold, hadn't saved, and remembered what was off about Sans today.

He hadn't made any puns.

~.~.~.~

She came to the save point and saved over the run's odd, but nonviolent, dialogue. The inter-dimensional box waited faithfully for her to put something in it, so she gave it two spider goods, exchanging them for the toughest glove she had laid eyes on. Miraculously, once she picked it up, the knife released itself from her body, lying prone in the snow. She boxed it.

The glove now, however, would not come off. At least it warded away the cold on one hand. She looked north, recalling a memory of an odd fishing line, and skipped the area.

Ice cap approached! He refused to let her see his hat, so she fled.

The icy paths led to more icy paths, and in hardly any time at all the skeleton brothers had reappeared.

"SANS!"

"*yes?"

"IS THAT A HUMAN?"

"*...no, thats a rock."

"REALLY, SANS, THAT ONE RIGHT THERE! IT LOOKS VERY HUMAN TO ME!"

"*then i guess it could be human."

Papyrus leapt for joy, his whole face awoken with enthusiasm.

"HUMAN! YOU WILL SOON SEE THE POWER OF THE TOTALLY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN, PAPYRUS! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR HIGH JINKS! LOW JINKS! DANGERS! JAPES! PUZZLES! CAPERS! JAPERS! BEING CAPTURED! AND OTHER SORTS OF FUN. REFRESHMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED... IF YOU DARE! NYEH! HEH! _HEH_!"

Frisk clapped as they spun away. She had forgotten how funny Papyrus was when he put on airs like that.

She knew Snowdin a little less intuitively than she knew the ruins, but maneuvered and picked her way over the snowy fields with much the same haste. Sans was waiting somewhere, and could explain all this nonsense.

A sentry dog blocked the path, but Frisk already knew to freeze up. The dog eventually disregarded her smell and took a smoke break. She skipped on by, ignoring the camera and a small snowman to the north.

She came upon a spot of cleared away snow, and, again, the brothers.

"HUMAN! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS TRAP... ELECTRIFYING!"

Sans didn't even snicker.

"YES, THIS ELECTRICITY FLOOR WILL SHOCK EVEN THE MOST INSULATED OF INTERLOPERS! NOW, ENTER!" He gestured to the field with his outstretched hand.

Frisk didn't even set her foot down in the patch when Papyrus erupted into sparks. If she wasn't careful, this puzzle might actually be dangerous. She took a step backwards.

"HUMAN, JUST A MOMENT."

He rounded on his brother.

"SANS! WHAT'S HAPPENING? WHY ISN'T MY TRAP TRAPPING THEM?"

"*im not sure. maybe they have to old the shocker orb."

"OH YES! I FORGOT! ERM... WHERE WAS IT AGAIN? I AM... JUST MAKING SURE YOU KNOW."

"*you have it. its probably in your pocket."

The brothers thoroughly investigated the pocket, but no orb was there. Frisk moved to take another step back for safety, but Papyrus stopped her.

"HONESTLY, DO THEY NOT HAVE PUZZLES WHERE YOU COME FROM? PLEASE FINISH IT! I MADE IT JUST FOR YOU."

"But... The orb... Where do you think it is?" She couldn't exactly solve the puzzle without it. Papyrus might get hurt!

"DID I DROP IT? OR... AHA! HUMAN! COME OVER AND HELP US LOOK! IT WILL BE LIKE... WHEN YOU DROP TOUR PHONE AND SOMEONE CALLS YOU TO MAKE SURE THE RINGTONE IS STILL SET TO YOUR FAVORITE POP TUNE!"

Frisk, at his insistence, stepped on the normal snow, walking around the maze. The duo searched for the orb with twice the zeal of one. Frisk asked Papyrus what his favorite pop tune was.

"OH, YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW? HERE'S MY NUMBER! CALL ME!"

Frisk did as requested on her ancient phone, even while Sans appeared to be having a mini heart attack as she stayed distracted. He tried calming himself down, but mostly just napped standing up.

After a dial tone, the dulcet synthesizers of everyone's favorite rectangle assaulted her ears. "BE MTT BRAND, DARLING! FASHION, FEARLESSNESS AND FABULOSITY!" Papyrus's phone blared.

Papyrus began jumping along to a ditzy show tune. It was catchy.

The shocker orb fell out from the back of Papyrus's scarf.

"AH! IT SEEMS I HAVE BEEN THE VICTIM OF A MISPLACED JAPE! NEXT TIME I WILL HAVE TO TRY HARDER TO DEFEAT YOUR MASTER PLANS!" Papyrus ran off again in too much of a hurry for Frisk to respond.

Sans stuck around to make a comment about how Papyrus might end up being a handful. He moved on, too.

After a brief respite, Frisk stored a fresh Nice Cream in her backpack. It was a little too cold to eat right now, but she didn't need any HP anyway. Hopefully the ice cream wouldn't melt through the wrapper. 3 inventory slots full, five to go.

Lesser Dog approached!

Frisk pet the dog a lot, but not too much, because she couldn't jump as high as the dog's neck required. She said farewell as it toppled over, forgetting how to balance.

She next found "Ball" and, consequently, had a ball playing it. She earned purple marks for her perseverance and note taking, which she did not recall doing.

She was just pondering the injustice of the snowball tax when two skeletons reappeared. A piece of paper rested on the ground.

"WELL NOW... WAIT. SANS! IS THIS YOUR PUZZLE?"

"*im sure it will stop them."

"BUT... WELL. LET'S SEE."

Frisk almost walked past it, but didn't want to upset Papyrus again. She didn't remember him ever getting mad in other timelines, at least, not at her. She would play it safe, especially because she hadn't saved in so long.

"One of the words is missing, Sans," she said, pointing to the entry. All of the others were crossed out.

"SANS! IS THIS TRUE?"

"*nah, i have respect for my puzzles. if it says its there, its there."

Frisk pointed out all of the ways he had to be wrong. He shrugged and let the conversation drop, moving on ahead.

Papyrus was left wringing his gloved hands, not sure of what to say but wanting to say something. Frisk thanked him for the fun puzzles, and told him that she thought a junior jumble would be harder if Sans tried to recreate this puzzle. Papyrus beamed, agreed with a snicker, and stepped forwards to set up more traps.

Frisk waited politely to give him a head start.

Snowdrake approached!

Frisk laughed at his silly puns. The next room, mercifully, was a save point. She saved, filling with determination at the sight of a microwave and finely aged spaghetti. She was able to break off a piece, but it was brittle, crumbling in her fingers. She put the spaghetti dust in one of her spare Tupperware containers. 4 inventory slots full.

In the next room, her puzzling intuition sent her to a hidden switch and southwards. Two hooded guards appeared, and they were not made of bones.

Frisk did not quite know how to talk down the pair of aggressive, nose-nuzzling hounds, but decided now was the perfect time to get familiar with the concept. She tried petting them, but they were too suspicious, sniffing and axing their line of sight. Frisk dodged as needed but was growing worried, if she took a single hit, if she reset, how much would Sans remember? She had so many conflicting memories of him, and even with that, she didn't want to know how strong that voice in her head could get.

She ran, but the dogs pursued and caught up again. She tried staying still, but they homed in on her scent. No solution occurred to her.

She took a blow to the left shoulder, rolling with the injury---


	14. It's Cold

FRISK LV 3 1:29

The reset wasn't the worst case scenario, but the voice called out again. Stronger, making her right leg twitch almost uncontrollably for a few seconds. Why was that happening again? Could Sans tell?

Backpack. No spider goods, because she had stored them. One nice cream. One pie, spaghetti dust. A ball of melted monster candy. A tough glove and a pair of headphones. She really wanted to get rid of the headphones, but to do so would have been an insult to Napstablook.

She reengaged with the Dogi. Despite identifying hersmellf as a friend, they insisted that she smelled too dangerous not to fight. She decided to dodge their axes with low somersaults that left her muddy and covered in slush. Again she went in for a pet, not expecting much, but Dogamy eased under her hand. That left Dogaressa, but she was now on the warpath.

Only a tactical pet dissolved the situation. Frisk hoped she wouldn't need to fight them again.

A puzzle made of two X's greeted her. It was easy to turn them all into O's, but the second set of such letters was not. Papyrus kept offering to trigger a secret switch to help, but Frisk was adamant. Her memory was scattered at first, taking her along seemingly unrelated directions until she fizzled it out. She stepped over the deactivated spikes.

There was another x and o puzzle, which earned a groan from Frisk, and she grudgingly stepped on the ice to complete it.

The ground cracked!

She fell a mercifully short distance into a soft snow bank. Two statues greeted her: a buff Papyrus and a lumpy effigy of Sans.

Another trip through the ice field left her back where she started. After maneuvering through the course four times, she slid perfectly into all of the Xs and unlocked the passageway. It was closely enclosed by twiggy trees.

She slid straight through, tripping over her own feet and skidding to a halt at the end of the runway. Something was on her head.

She brushed away ice and continued eastwards. There was a passageway south...

Actually, she decided not to skip it. She passed a cliff full of large, dark caverns gaping from the side like toothy mouths. Nobody else greeted her.

A doorway sat at end of the path, and to the distance, she could make out the faint light of a settlement. Somebody was lighting a lantern and... Dancing?

She was so tired already from her walk through the biting cold. This little spot was perfect for a break, maybe even a nap.

She entered. Flickering lights caught her eye, and she caught one in her hand. It squealed. She let it fall, and it flitted around into motion again.

The cavern was musty, but warm enough compared to outside that little grasses and mushrooms were sprouting. Out of fear that they were poisonous, she let them be.

"That door's locked," the mysterious voice told her. "You have to miss all of the names to enter."

Her leg was twitching again.

Maybe that was because she was tired? She took a seat on a relatively dry section of floor and shut her eyes.

~.~.~.~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You recall that you are in an igloo with a dog. The dog is bundled in blankets and typing up a storm on its phone, but you are more in awe of the fact it can speak.
> 
> "So... You write these stories?"
> 
> "Yes," the dog replies. It looks very fuzzy.
> 
> "That's nifty," you say, lamely. Of course it is nifty, everyone knows that.
> 
> "But do you take breaks?"
> 
> "...Too many..." The dog began dozing off.
> 
> "You could apologize to your followers for the upcoming hiatus, you know."
> 
> The dog just shakes its head. Flecks of melted snow splash on your face. It is now sound asleep.


	15. Intermission

~~~ Intermission ~~~

Glyde swooped in!

Frisk wasn't paying attention. Attack up, defense down!

Glyde did backflips!

Frisk was loafing about! Glyde is desperate for attention.

"Check out these pecs!"

Frisk almost took damage! But the nap continued.

"HEY! Are you just another hater?"

Frisk failed to respond. Glyde is now more frustrated. Glyde refused to give more information on its stats.

"Pssh. *ollies*"

Glyde is even more desperate for attention. Frisk maintained neutrality.

"You forgot to clap!"

Glyde is preparing a special attack! Glyde used FLEX ON 'EM!

Frisk was unaffected! Glyde collapsed and had a nervous breakdown! You got 0 EXP and 50G!


	16. A New Target

FRISK LV 3

Time Unknown

Frisk was well rested, but had finally started to feel the pangs of hunger. She hadn't eaten in who knows how long. Fortunately, she had plenty of rations.

A ball of monster candy. Spaghetti dust. Nice cream. Pie. She decided to sample Papyrus's powdered cooking, taking a nibble of one of the more solid chunks.

It tasted like chalk.

Frisk dropped the gross mixture of ice and sauce, trying the monster candy instead. It was too large for her mouth, but broke evenly when she slapped it with her tough glove. The center was a big gummy mass and very filling.

That left her with one spare Tupperware, a 1/2 melted ball, nice cream and pie. She stood on shaky legs, feeling the burn in her thigh muscles and feet as soon as she started using them again.

Exiting the doorway, none other than Sans appeared in front of her.

"*hey."

"Hello!" Frisk smiled with a chirp.

"*what took so long?"

"Oh, I took a nap. All the walking is tiring."

"*k. next time, maybe stop by our house first. we have a couch, if you want it."

Frisk thanked him, oblivious to the circles under his eyes. The skeleton brothers had spent her entire nap looking for the lost human, thinking she was dead or eaten. The two newfound companions walked together through the woods in silence.

When Sans reemerged into the ordinary path, Papyrus met them with tears.

"OH HUMAN! I WAS SO WORRIED!"

He embraced her in a too-tight, too-bony hug. She didn't mind.

"It's ok, Papyrus! I just took a nap."

Papyrus chuckled, in his own way. "OH YEAH, OF COURSE. SANS MUST BE RUBBING OFF ON YOU! HONESTLY, HE IS MAKING US ALL LAZIER BY STANDING THERE!"

"*want me to run some laps?"

"THAT WOULD BE VERY EFFICIENT OF YOU!"

"*nah."

"GRR!"

Papyrus set down Frisk and started in on his brother. Frisk stepped between them.

"Hey, Papyrus, I liked your spaghetti."

Both skeletons stopped and shot Frisk a surprised, fearful gaze.

"*the sight of it. you mean you liked the sight of it, yeah?"

"No, I tasted some. It was pretty... Good, but a little on the cold side. I couldn't finish it."

Sans' eyes vanished, but only briefly. He returned his gaze to a love struck Papyrus.

"HUMAN! FORGET THESE SILLY PUZZLES, YOU HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE SNOW LONG ENOUGH!"

Papyrus picked up Frisk and set her on his shoulders.

"LET US HAVE MORE OF MY SPAGHETTI!"

Papyrus ran off with her. Sans stood in the distance. Frisk had a feeling he would catch up, maybe even beat them there.

"IS IT COMFY UP THERE? I HAVE ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO RIDE ON MY OWN SHOULDERS!"

"It's-- OK."

"GREAT! YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THE WONDERS OF BEING AS TALL AS I AM FROM UP THERE. FORTUNATELY..." He took a breath in, "I AM ALREADY TALL ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE TALL! LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ANY ADVICE."

The jog continued.

They reached Snowdin in record time, skipping the tile puzzle and the deadly gauntlet. Frisk wanted to go back and grab the 30G in the snow poff, but was carried too quickly to protest. They passed the inn, the librarby, and stopped in front of a quaint house. Frisk had memories of this place, of meeting the skeleton inside for their first date. Though, she did admit, even in previous timelines she had never tasted Papyrus's spaghetti. It was strange enough that she had tasted the chalky version, but now she was dying to know: was the real deal any good?

Papyrus set her down gently on the doorstep. He didn't look tired in the slightest.

"LETS SEE IF SANS IS HOME!"

He slammed the door in, and it connected with the hall, trying to bounce back at them. Papyrus's bones blocked its bounce!

"HELLO, BROTHER!"

"*hiya."

"GOSH DANG IT TO HECK! LOOKS LIKE YOU BEAT ME AGAIN. BUT, SANS... YOU HAVE FORGOTTEN! I BROUGHT A GUEST! SO, THAT HALVES MY INDIVIDUAL SCORE!"

Sans handed him a piece of paper.

"NOT THAT KIND OF SCORE!"

Frisk recognized the first few notes of "Bonetrousle" sketched on the page. She was a skilled piano player, after all.

"NOW, SANS! I WILL MAKE MY BEST BATCH OF FRESH SPAGHETTI FOR MY SPA-GUEST-I! PLEASE ENTERTAIN THEM WHILE I COOK."

"*eh. no promises."

Papyrus entered the kitchen, donned his favorite apron, and began to cook. Partly thanks to Papyrus's height, Frisk was able to make out the words "Kiss the cool cook" on the apron, perpetually stained red with sauce. It was almost impressive.

Now seemed like the ideal time to sort out the timestream.

"Sans? Is... now a good time to talk?"

The skeleton was not ready to answer just yet. He stared transfixed onto the upper balcony, boring holes into the wallpaper.

"What are you looking at?"

Sans finally gave her a passing glance, about to return to his work, when he stopped to reevaluate the situation. She deserved answers.

"*yeah."

"But what are you looking at?"

Sans's cryptic smile rose a few inches, but he looked as though he had something stuck in his teeth, and just remembered that fact.

"*we have all the time we need to talk. he doesnt need my supervision these days."

Frisk refrained from commenting. Sans walked upstairs, entering... Papyrus's room?

"Is... is this ok?"

"*why not? 's my house, too."

"This is his room! It's got all of his stuff! Isn't it rude to bring me in here?"

Sans shrugged off the criticism.

"*do you want answers or not?"

That put Frisk in a listening mood. Papyrus banged something metal, very loudly in the distance, but Sans didn't react.

"*you first. tell me what's happened to you."

"I... Don't know where to start." Sans didn't respond, only watched. He took a seat on the flame pattern carpet, leaning against a table leg. Frisk joined him. "I... woke up. Not too long ago. I took a nap in this musty side room. It had mushrooms and stuff in it. But before that... I can't really explain." She cleared her throat. She was surprisingly thirsty.

"Can I get something to drink?"

"*later. papyrus is in the kitchen, remember?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I... right." The two sat there for a few minutes before Frisk tried again.

"So a lot of my memories are mixed up now. From reseting so much."

Sans scowled.

"Hey, how do resets work anyway? Do you know?"

"*no questions yet. keep going."

"Alright. I'll try. I remember coming to in a field of yellow flowers. Actually, not a field. It was a patch. A patch of buttercups. And one of them... no, I had to stand up and walk around first. I went in this doorway and there was a flower. It started talking, but I... I started running from it. I don't really remember why. All I did was see it and go. It caught up to me, like twice? Here's the weird thing. The first time I caught me by the leg with a vine, I reset. I don't even remember why."

Sans was asleep.

"HEY!"

He opened one eyesocket. "*i hear every word, loud 'n clear."

"Oh. Ok. Well... after the flower, this nice lady came over and burned him away. She led me through some puzzles but..." Frisk cringed. "I was really rude for no reason."

Sans broke his own rule and asked a question.

"Oh? Well... She's a very nice lady. You would like her. Anyway... She kind of left me alone in one of the rooms. And I ran ahead, and stole some candy from a bowl, oh-!"

Frisk pulled out the half ball of candy from her backpack to show him.

"See?"

"*those are monster candies. werent you only supposed to take one?"

He stared right into her. She wanted to curl up and... well, she didn't know, but something bad.

"I... I don't know why I..."

"*alright. im starting to get the idea of whats going on."

"Can you tell me?"

He just waved his hand at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine. So her name is Toriel, and she gave me this phone, and I..." Her eyes welled up. How could she have forgotten this part?

"I did... a bad thing."

"*tell me."

"I think I hurt some... uh... residents. Of the place I was in."

"*hurt, how? did you skip the bake sale?"

She couldn't even remember the bake sale.

"Well... oh."

A jug of cider and a donut sat in her bag. So, she hadn't skipped the sale.

"No. I bought the stuff there."

"*with what money?"

Blood money, she said to herself.

"I... oh Sans, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

He shut his sockets. There wasn't much of a grin there for her to look at.

"I killed them! A Froggit, a Whimsun, a Veggetoid, two Loox, a Migosp, a bunch of Moldsmals... I killed Napstablook. Why? Why would I do that? I don't remember feeling anything. Did... am I... am I a bad person?"

Sans didn't answer.

"Tell me. Tell me what I can do to fix it."

Nothing.

"I don't want to be a bad person. I don't want to have ever been a bad person."

"*thats too bad, seeing as you are lv 3."

She started crying into his hoodie. He was shocked, eyes awake, but didn't move away. Deep down, he wanted her to be level 1. She deserved to be level 1. But she could never be, as far as he was aware. One kill was all it took to end innocence forever.

"I... killed her too..."

Sans leaned away, much too fast. Her head hit his shoulder blade.

"N-not in this timeline!"

He exhaled.

"I... think that was when I first figured out something was wrong."

He looked pensive, contemplative, soft. She nuzzled back into him for comfort. It felt good to get all of the stress out of her system like this.

"That's about it. I reset a lot trying not to kill her. But... there was this voice."

Her leg twitched right on cue.

"It wants me to... finish everything."

"*thats enough. i think i can help you figure out what beast youre dealing with here."

She stared, glassy eyed, up at him. He brushed her off and stood.

"im gonna go get something. hang tight."

He left the room. The whole map felt smaller now, just her in someone else's room.

Sans came back in a few moments with a book.

He opened a page. It was empty!

"So... uhm..."

"*this is a journal. keep track of your... stuff with it."

He pulled a notepad from his own pocket.

"*mine wont keep the things i write in it anymore. but, the old stuff, ive got that."

"What's in yours?"

He darkened.

"*so. your problem. its not going to be an easy fix, but we can do something about it."

She set aside her clearly unwelcome question.

"*all you have to do is leave the underground."

Frisk should have felt more surprised, but she didn't.

"*simple, but effective. youre being watched by... lets call it an anomaly."

"That name isn't very descriptive. What's the anomaly?"

Sans winced. "*dunno. wish i did, wish i didn't." He left it at that.

"But Sans... I'll keep resetting. Not on purpose... but, that voice. It resets whenever something happens. Whenever I get hit or I mess something up. And... it gets louder."

"*then youll have to get good."

Frisk had a feeling that this wasn't good advice. She felt intrinsically frustrated, and mocked, and couldn't place why.

"*the anomaly isnt something you have control of. its like... having another person in the room. it makes decisions. it has goals, but maybe we cant see them right away. unlike monsters, however... it isnt made of compassion."

"What's it made of?"

Sans shook his head and shrugged, grinning wider.

"*yours seems a little neurotic. doesnt like to be messed with. if you could bother it enough... it might leave you alone. give you some space. but why bother trying, that takes more effort than it deserves."

"*anyway. thats about it."

Papyrus shouted up that the spaghetti was almost done.

"*heh. theres your cue. have fun with him, ok? and..."

He turned to face that same direction, past the bed, through the wallpaper. It was speaking to someone else.

"*dont you dare."

Frisk raised her head, about to question him, but stopped. This might have been important. She let him stare it out with... the anomaly.

"It's in my head, right? I can't just make it leave?"

"*heh. you can try, do all the things it hates. it might get sick of you after a while."

Frisk nodded.

She opened up her backpack, looking at the slice of pie. It made for a good target.

She tasted the sweet, sweet sauce, lightly dusted with cinnamon but mellowed out with the power of butterscotch. This was more than a nibble, she went in to eat it whole---


	17. Unfortunate timing

Reset 17.

Frisk hadn't saved in forever, since she had been too caught up in the nonsense of Papyrus and the hope of explanations from Sans. Now that she had answers, however, she needed to make good on them. She currently had the spaghetti dust, a full ball of monster candy since she hadn't snacked on it yet, and a nice cream. The journal he gave her was missing. She hadn't engaged the Dogi, whom she was definitely not looking forward to refighting. At least she knew what to do now, though. Voluntary resetting was still out of the question, despite Sans' suggestions, which left her with annoying the anomaly. It loved perfection, she had noticed, but not much excited it except killing. What she did know, however, was that it was goal driven, and liked getting places. She simply had to make sure she wouldn't get anything done or go anywhere. Snowdin was the perfect spot to settle, she decided. She would keep going for now, and stop there for as long as it took.

She left the spaghetti room, passing into a snowy field. In moments she had flipped the switch and passed by a row of deactivated spikes. Though it pained her, she stepped in view of two patrolling Dogi.

The battle began again, and like the last two tries, she used low somersaults and her agility to evade the pair's swinging axes. She noticed their matching jackets, which were too cute for their own good. Dogaressa came very close to slicing Frisk's neck open, which while painful, ended up not happening.

"Woof!" Frisk said, rolling along he ground. "I'm a puppy!"

The two Dogi were not to be fooled so easily, however.

"Dogamy, get it for me!" Dogaressa shouted.

"Wah! That's a lot of commitment!"

Frisk giggled, rolling as quickly as she darted right under their noses. With a sniff, they eased their fighting poses.

"It smells like a puppy..." Dogamy said, bending down to examine her. His eyes were partially hooded, and so did not get a good glimpse, but dogs were never good with their eyes anyway.

"Woof!"

Dogaressa gave the thing a final sniff, bending down closely. Frisk gave her a nice pet on the top of her head.

"Yah! It pet me! Can dogs do that?!"

"Well, hey, don't leave me out!" Dogamy presented his own head for affectionate snuggles. Frisk did as commanded, conveniently concluding the confrontation. Dogamy and Dogaressa, minds widened, began petting each other, struggling through the motions as though they were newborns. Frisk continued south.

A chamber that she was not looking forward to appeared, the puzzle of Xs and Os. She could solve this first puzzle, but was reluctant to face the rest. A sign greeted her, suggesting that she convert the symbols along the ground by stepping on them.

As requested, she turned the cross symbols into Os and deactivated the batch of spikes. Stepping through, she entered another chamber with Papyrus in it.

"HELLO HUMAN! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. IN THE TIME IT TOOK FOR YOU TO PUZZLE THROUGH MY PUZZLES... I HAVE ENHANCED THIS ONE! IT IS NOW IN THE SHAPE OF A CERTAIN COOL DUDE'S FACE!"

"That's cool."

"RIGHT? SANS SAID SO TOO."

"Papyrus, can I ask you a favor?"

His face quirked. "WHAT IS IT?"

"It's very cold outside... I'm starting to get shivers. Humans don't like being in the cold for a long time without snow clothing. Can you take me somewhere warmer?"

"I... DID NOT KNOW THIS! BUT FEAR NOT, HUMAN!"

He removed his scarf, setting it on Frisk's shoulders.

"THIS WILL KEEP YOU WARM! NOW WE CAN BE ENEMIES MORE SAFELY! DO YOU FEEL ANY BETTER?"

Frisk found that the fabric was more scratchy than expected, and the inside sported a suspicious dark stain, likely from spaghetti sauce. She sniffed it. Yep, sauce. Still, it was a touching gesture. Papyrus looked more bony without his cape, and somehow less affable.

"This is very nice of you, but what I had in mind was going indoors. I need a place to sit and warm up for a while. Maybe I can do these puzzles a little later? They look very fun."

"WHAT? YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE UP? AFTER ALL THIS TIME?"

"Yeah. I ate way too much spaghetti at that last trap. You win!"

"YOU... WANT ME TO... CAPTURE YOU? FOR REAL? OH MY GOODNESS, SANS! SANS!"

Papyrus ran off in search of his brother. Frisk sighed, staying wrapped in the cloak she had been given. The walk wasn't bad at all, but certainly was chilly. She could see her breath cloud up as she exhaled. Maybe getting out of the cold was a better idea than she realized.

Papyrus ran back over in a few minutes.

"ALRIGHT! I HAD TO DO SOME STUFF, BUT NOW I AM READY TO CAPTURE YOU!"

He grabbed Frisk and set her on his shoulders.

"OFF WE GO!"

He set off at a run... Just like last time. Maybe there were some things fate couldn't change.

"IS IT COMFY UP THERE? I HAVE ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO RIDE ON MY OWN SHOULDERS!"

"It's fine," she said, even though the ride was as bumpy as last time. She nearly fell off, but maintained balance by gripping his vertebrae.

"NOW YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THE WONDERS OF BEING AS TALL AS I AM FROM UP THERE. FORTUNATELY..." He took a breath in, "I AM ALREADY TALL ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE TALL! LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ANY ADVICE."

Frisk concurred.

"SO... SINCE I HAVE CAPTURED YOU SO LAST MINUTE, YOU'LL HAVE TO STAY THE NIGHT AT MY HOUSE. UNDYNE'S HANGING OUT WITH ALPHYS TODAY AND SAID NOT TO BOTHER HER UNLESS A SCARY HUMAN COMES THOUGH. BUT, YOU ARE NOT SCARY! SHE CAN COME BY TOMORROW TO DELIVER YOU TO THE CAPITAL."

Frisk nodded. She had a feeling that there wouldn't have any problems making friends with Undyne.

Then, she remembered she was LV 3, and she fell off of Papyrus.

"Oof."

It was a soft fall into a snowbank, mercifully not into a pile of spikes. Papyrus looked down, concerned.

"MY GOODNESS, YOU REALLY ARE COLD. YOUR REFLEXES ARE WEAK! COME ON, LET'S GET YOU SOME PLACE WARM."

He lifted her, cradling her in his arms. She was... comforted, even though his bones were jagged. A horrible thought occurred to her. If she couldn't keep the voice at bay long enough... if that voice took over... She might hurt Papyrus. For good.

She didn't want to think about it. Papyrus was too innocent and trusting to ever imagine his (fully capable) prisoner would ever cause him harm. She was already LV 3...

"What's a few more EXP?" The voice whispered.

She shivered. Papyrus noticed, but misattributed her fear to the biting chill. Her leg twitched worse than ever, another bad sign for both of them. Her other leg shivered, too. She needed to get her act in gear, and fast. Papyrus entered the town outskirts.

"S-stop," she said, noticing the yellow gleam in the distance, lying on the ground.

"WE'RE HERE! JUST HANG ON A MINUTE LONGER..."

"N-no... I'm gonna... puke," she faked.

"WHAT DOES THAT WORD MEAN?"

"It means if you don't stop, I'll spit up all of the food I ate today."

"THAT WOULD BE SO RUDE! AND IMPOSSIBLE. FOOD DISSOLVES THE MINUTE YOU EAT IT."

"Not on purpose! I... It's important. I just need a second, just to not move... Urp..."

She groaned. Papyrus was conflicted, but set her down.

"OK. ONE MINUTE AND THEN WE GET YOU INSIDE. DO YOU NEED TO BE HEALED?"

Frisk shook her head and saved in the patch of snow as Papyrus watched over her.

"IF YOU INSIST..."

She stared at the yellow gleam. She had successfully bypassed most of the Snowdin puzzles, at the cost of promising Papyrus that she would finish them someday. She had to keep that promise, too, she ventured. It wasn't fair of her to lie to the most honest monster underground.

"I'm ready now. Thanks."

"MY, THAT DIDNT TAKE LONG AT ALL! HUMANS MUST BE VERY RESILIENT. CAN YOU HEAL YOURSELVES?"

Frisk nodded.

"It's very slow, but humans regrow torn skin, broken bones, just about anything."

"WOWIE! WITHOUT EVEN EATING?"

"No, we still need-" Papyrus lifted her, interrupting her train of thought.

"We still need to eat human food."

"WHAT ABOUT MONSTER FOOD? YOU HAVE BEEN EATING THAT. OH! I KNOW! DID MY SPAGHETTI HELP YOU WITH ITS REGENERATIVE POWERS?"

"Yeah, I bet," Frisk lied. She felt horrible for it, but the lies came easier than the truth.

"ALRIGHTY, HOME WE GO!"

Papyrus darted past the crowd of onlookers and entered his house much the same way as in a previous timeline. He set Frisk on the doorstep.

"SANS? ARE YOU HOME?"

No response. He must have still been out in this timeline.

"ALRIGHT. HAVE A REST ON THE COUCH AND I WILL COOK YOU SOMETHING NICE AND WARM!"

Papyrus held the door as she strolled in. The house was comfy, just the right temperature of toasty and mellow. She sat on the couch while Papyrus entered the kitchen.

"Sans's pet rock has competition, now," she muttered. Papyrus went on wielding his cooking implements. Frisk took the time to observe the house in detail. She had memories of the TV, the painting hanging upstairs, the quantum physics books, the joke books, the carpet, even the smell, which was dominated by tomato products. If there were more skeletons, it would have felt like an Italian house: homey, fragrant, cozy. Then again, monsters didn't have any nationality.

There was a bumble from upstairs, and a muttered curse.

Sans opened the door from... Papyrus's room. He came downstairs.

"*youre early."

"I told Papyrus I was cold. He decided to capture me and show me his spaghetti recipe."

Sans exhaled air from his nose in mock laughter. "*well, thats funny. i dont think the cold has ever bothered you before, has it?"

She glanced away, afraid to admit her own lie.

"Well... Maybe not in so many words..."

"*couldnt be bothered to stick around for a few puzzles, could you? not even for him."

"That's not it at all! I promised to do them later, and I will. Remember when we talked before?" She met his dark gaze. Sans just kept smiling.

"*if you say so."

She couldn't tell what he meant by that. The spark of recognition she was used to seeing in his eyes wasn't strong.

"Ok. Well, I had an idea after you and I talked. I wanted to get to the save point here and start my plan."

"*which is?" The lights of his eyes vanished.

"I'm going to stop playing. If the anomaly wants me to continue, then I should wait until it gives up. I want to stay in Snowdin with you and Papyrus." Sans pondered this. His gaze returned, thoughtfully, to the wallpaper. He bored holes in it again.

"What are you even looking at? You do that all the time."

"*really."

He was starting to frustrate her with his total lack of emotion. He was playing dumb! Or maybe, he wasn't. He was, if nothing else, unreadable.

"Is that the anomaly?"

"*could be. depends on what anomaly you mean."

"Sans, you told me yourself that the anomaly was in my head. Do you even remember?"

He closed his sockets and reopened them. His hands, snug in his pocket, hung from his elbows like pots in a dishwasher. As she looked for signs to evaluate him by, she came up shorter and shorter. He remained an enigma.

"*yeah. i know what went down. you asked me for answers, i delivered. then the timeline reset itself, correct?"

"That's a good guess. I bet you don't even know one word of what I said! I can see it, you forgot, just like everyone else!" Her emotions were starting to get the better of her. After dying and reincarnating though, whose emotions wouldn't?

She stood, cheeks flushed, pulse picking up. "Sans, prove it. Prove you heard what I was saying."

He let her think for a minute. She blushed, but persevered through the silence, waiting for him to conjure an answer. She glanced around the room, at the flame pattern carpet, the racecar bed, the action figures, the computer monitor, the closet, the bookshelf, the pirate flag. Every element stood out as unique, filled with personality and care. Papyrus would have told her the truth. Papyrus wouldn't lie to keep the timelines confusing. Why was Sans so difficult? He finally returned her gaze.

"*i dont have to answer that. too bad for you. but just so you remember for next time, i never told you the anomaly was in your head. you did that to yourself."

Papyrus shouted up that spaghetti was ready, so Frisk stomped out. She saw Papyrus, still in his stained apron, standing by the couch with a plate in his hands.

"HUMAN-! OH! WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?"

"Nothing, just looking around. It's very cool."

"OH, WELL... THANKS. I GUESS THAT'S ALRIGHT. PLEASE WATCH THE CAUTION SIGNS ON MY DOOR NEXT TIME!"

Frisk sat back on the couch, hoping that her excuses worked. Papyrus, still in his apron, set a plate and utensils out for her on the coffee table.

"OK! NO NEED TO BE CAUTIOUS ABOUT THIS DISH. FINELY AGED SPAGHETTI, BRAISED AND SAUTÉED WITH FRIENDSHIP! ALSO, MUSHROOMS. DIG IN!"

Papyrus made an excited face. He couldn't remember the last time someone had tried one of his culinary masterpieces.

She twirled a decent size of noodle and sauce onto a fork with one bent tine. Her whole face lit up, and she set the pasta gently into her mouth. There was an overpowering mixture of seasonings, and not nearly enough mushrooms. The texture was soggy, as there was much more juice than tomato pulp in the sauce. The noodles were a little over done and undercooked at the same time.

That was just how she liked it. She ate another forkful.

"Thanks, ---


	18. In the Long Run

Reset 18.

Frisk was lying on the ground, covered in Papyrus's scarf. He was looking at her with concern. She took a minute to gather her bearings.

The anomaly apparently did not like spaghetti. Hmm.

"So, I... I'm, yeah, ready," she mumbled.

"GOOD! LET'S GO!"

Papyrus lifted her, cradling her like a puppy. The townsfolk watched them as they dashed home, wondering what was the matter.

Papyrus set her on the doorstep and kicked open the door. Following him in, she sat on the couch.

"I WILL MAKE YOU SOME MORE OF MY FAMOUS SPAGHETTI! A NICE WARM DISH WILL HEAT YOU RIGHT UP."

She nodded, still hungry. Still, how could she satisfy Papyrus and the anomaly at the same time? It would reset if she took another bite, but she wanted to eat it.

"Papyrus..."

"YES, HUMAN?"

"Can I help?"

"OH? YOU WISH TO COOK WITH ME?"

"Maybe if we work together we can cook faster. Plus, I would be able to warm up by moving around."

"...SOUND LOGIC. ALRIGHT! COME JOIN ME ON A CULINARY QUEST!"

Frisk smiled, trotting over to the tiny kitchen. Papyrus had set out a box of angel hair pasta, three tomatoes, a cutting board, and a pot full of water.

"Do skeletons use fire magic?"

"NYEH? OH NO, WE ONLY USE STOVE MAGIC. OBSERVE!"

He turned on the burner and set the pot on top, turning the handle in.

"THIS IS THE SAFE WAY TO MAKE PASTA, THAT WAY, NOBODY CAN BUMP INTO THE HANDLE!"

"Thanks! Can I do the sauce?"

"BE MY GUEST! OR... CAPTIVE, I GUESS."

Frisk took the three tomatoes and put them in a separate bowl.

"WAIT! WHAT ABOUT PUNCHING THEM INTO BITS? THE BOWL MIGHT HURT YOUR HAND!"

"Hmm? Well, if you insist, but isn't it a little better to slice them up?"

"HOW ELSE CAN YOU PUT YOUR HEART AND SOUL INTO COOKING? A GREAT DISH IS LIKE A BATTLE!"

Papyrus took out one tomato to demonstrate. He entered a confrontation with the juicy fruit.

"NYEH! YOU, TOMATO, WILL NEVER STOP ME FROM REACHING MY GOALS!" He slid his arm downward, summoning a bone attack. The skewered tomato flew in all directions, spattering the ceiling and the scarf covering Frisk.

"LIKE SO!"

Frisk clapped.

"I'll try, if you don't mind," she said. She took her tough glove, squaring even with another of the red fruits.

"Observe as I... SLICE!"

Papyrus took tedious notes as Frisk karate chopped and judo-diced the meal. Once in tiny chunks, she returned them to the bowl.

Papyrus looked confused, but permitted her to mince another fruit to a pulp.

"THAT'S A LITTLE TOO MUCH, ISN'T IT?"

"Looks just right to me," she said. "If it's too much we can always use a little less."

"FAIR. NOW, TO THE PASTA! IS THE WATER BOILING?"

Frisk lifted the lid on the pot. A few bubbles were floating up, but not many.

"Not really."

"THEN WE WILL HAVE TO IMPROVISE!"

He turned the heat up to dangerous levels. Frisk tugged at the collar on her sweater.

"SO! HOW ABOUT NOW?"

Frisk didn't dare get too close to the flaming, steaming concoction.

"Sure," she ventured. Steam was a good sign.

"GREAT! THEN WE WILL... ADD THE NOODLES!" He grabbed the box, ripping open the cardboard. He slid the noodles into the water with the gentleness of a bulldozer on steroids. The snappy strings flew everywhere, scattering to the high heavens, right into Papyrus's crushed tomato. Frisk had to shield her face from the pointed projectiles. Undyne would have been proud of how much the noodles resembled spears.

"Ok! Cooking time!"

"NOT YET!" He scraped together the discarded bits of noodle and sauce from the floor, dropping them into the pot while she watched helplessly. He looked at her, hoping to see approval.

"NOW! WE ARE READY TO APPLY SOME HEAT, YES?"

She set the lid back on the pot. Maybe the absolute grossness of that maneuver would bake out of the dish. Papyrus set a timer for twenty seconds.

"Only 20 seconds?"

"YES! IF WE MAKE IT FAST, THEN IT SHOULD COOK FAST, RIGHT?"

"No. That's not how it works. It has to cook until all of the noodles are soft."

"THAT'S RIDICULOUS!" Papyrus frowned. "HUMAN, AS MY CAPTIVE, I MUST ASSERT THAT YOUR COOKING METHODS ARE INFERIOR."

"How do you know if you've never tried them? Maybe they will make the pasta taste extra good."

"NEH! NYEH! _NYAAAHHH_!"

Papyrus clenched his fist, stomping angrily. Bones accidentally materialized and lodged in the veneer countertop.

"OHHHH YOU ARE FRUSTRATING! BUT... LET'S FORGET IT. I WAS JUST BLOWING OFF SOME STEAM."

The lid of the pasta pot suddenly flew up, hitting the ceiling. The pressure from the boiling water must have shot it off.

"I'll bet it's finished now."

"YOU THINK?" Papyrus turned off the burner, somewhat upset yet relieved that his house hadn't burnt down. Undyne's always did. Maybe he was doing something wrong.

"Well, let's see how it tastes. Come on!"

Papyrus lifted the lid, strained and plated the noodles. Frisk dumped the bowl of tomatoes on top.

"BUT... SHOULDN'T WE COOK THE TOMATOES TOO?"

"This is a fancy way, I promise," she said, grinning up at him. He did not look amused.

"ALRIGHT, WE'RE DONE, SEE IF IT'S ANY GOOD!"

He pushed the plate in her direction.

"GO ON!"

"Ok! Ok!" Frisk took the plate and carried it into the living room. She sat down. "What am I going to eat this with?"

Papyrus produced a fork from his shirt sleeve, passing it to her. He looked less eager in this timeline, but clearly curious about her reaction to the pasta.

"Thanks. Sure you don't want any?"

"POSITIVE! YOU NEED ALL THE WARMTH YOU CAN GET, RIGHT?" She nodded with a small, hopeful smile.

She twirled some noodles on the fork. They had more give than last time, but she wouldn't say she noticed a significant difference in the smell. There were no mushrooms sautéed with friendship.

She raised the fork, but her arm shivered involuntarily and the food launched onto the scarf she was still draped in. Her mood evaporated into a pale, immobile fear.

"OOF! STILL COLD! LET ME HELP."

He recovered the fork, reapplied spaghetti, and held it to her mouth.

"YOU'RE VERY PALE, TOO. QUICK! BEFORE IT GETS COLD!"

Frisk was too startled to notice his kindness. Her mouth was hanging ajar from shock. These resets were more powerful than she thought, and if she messed up again... what was preventing the anomaly from moving her hand a little differently? What if she had been holding a knife?

"NNYYYYYOOOOOMM! HERE COMES THE PLANE!"

He juggled the spaghetti in front of her mouth. She looked at him, realizing that he expected her to eat it. What if it made her reset? What if it wasn't good enough for the anomaly? She had to leave Snowdin before things got worse. What if the next reset, she looked up and stabbed him in the chest? The anomaly would be right next to a save point.

She stood up and ran. There was nothing for her in this timeline that she had any right to enjoy. She darted past her caretaker, leaving his scarf at the door. Papyrus's reflexes were quick, but he was startled, and he didn't give chase until she was already past the locked shed.

"WAIT! YOU TRICKED ME!"

She let her tears loose as her legs propelled her faster than ever. He didn't catch her until she was in the foggy patch of snow. He got in front, and like Toriel so many runs before, blocked the way with his body. She could have sworn.

"HUMAN! YOU ARE MY PRISONER! I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS!"

She groaned, shoulders hunched. Every part of her wanted to just... Well, she couldn't say. She was just frustrated. How could she protect him if he couldn't let her?

"YOU KNOW, MAYBE YOU'RE HALLUCINATING. I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE. TELL ME, ARE THERE SPOTS BEFORE YOUR EYES? ARE YOU BREATHING RIGHT? I WISH I HAD MY HANDY HUMAN CAPTURING MANUAL..."

He stared directly into her blank face.

"OR... IS THIS NO MERE JAPE? TELL ME HONESTLY, ARE YOU TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM JUSTICE? ANSWER CAREFULLY."

Frisk contemplated her options. The only memories that sprang to mind were of her fighting Papyrus, for real, then sparing him right at the end. At least she had her backpack.

"Ok, Papyrus. I... I have to tell you something."

"YES? WHAT IS IT?"

"Capturing me... Isn't going to make you popular."

"WHA- NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT THAT!"

"It's true. I'm an undercover spy. Undyne already knows about me. But... Not yet. You see... I'm a time traveller."

"WHAT?"

"For real. Go ahead and call her. I've been sent back in time to send her a secret message. She'll know what I mean. Just listen, I'll tell her the secret, and she'll be so excited. That's how you'll know she's in on it. This call will... save the underground."

"BUT... WELL... IF YOU'RE LYING, YOU BETTER COME STRAIGHT BACK HOME WITH ME, AND YOU WILL STAY CAPTURED! CAPRESE?"

"You mean cap-eesh?"

"OH YES, THAT TOO."

He speed dialed the number. It rang for a solid minute before hitting the dial tone.

Papyrus didn't know what to do with himself, but was saved the trouble when his phone started ringing a second later.

"HEY! PAPYRUS! What did I say about CALLING ME TODAY?!"

"I KNOW! YOU SAID DON'T CALL UNLESS A HUMAN CAME THROUGH! WELL, I'M STANDING IN FRONT OF ONE!"

There was a brief scuffle on the other end of the receiver. Undyne was moving somewhere quickly.

"I'LL BE RIGHT THERE! Papyrus-"

"WAIT, UNDYNE! THERE'S MORE!"

"I'M LISTENING-!" She took a second, talking animatedly to someone about helping her attach shin pieces to something. Frisk extrapolated that Undyne was donning her armor.

"THE HUMAN SAYS IT TRAVELLED THROUGH TIME TO DELIVER YOU A SECRET MESSAGE!"

"WHAT? What is it?" Undyne asked. Papyrus handed the phone over to Frisk.

"Undyne," Frisk said, getting ready to drop some knowledge, "I come from the year 202X. The monsters broke the barrier, and came to the surface. There was a terrible war, the likes of which have only been documented in human history books. You know them as... anime." Frisk closed her eyes in a quick prayer, hoping that Undyne would buy it.

"Undyne. Anime... Is real."

She screamed in joy... No. That was somebody in the background.

"Ohmigosh iknewitiknewitiknewit~"

The scuffle and shuffle of metal clanking could be heard very clearly.

"Undyne, please keep listening," Frisk continued. Papyrus was in awe. He didn't know what to make of this development. His frozen friend and captive... was a time traveller!

"Undyne, there have been consequences of the war. Everything I have done as a soldier carried on with me into the past. I'm growing unstable in this world... Things are starting to happen that I can't foresee. I need your help."

"We have to correct the timeline. There are a few things I still need to do before my time travels stop taking effect. I need your help... and that of Dr. Alphys."

The phone was dead silent.

"We'll meet today, in waterfall. I look forward to telling you what I can, but... it should be in person. Together we can prevent this war from killing too many good lives."

She thanked Undyne and hung up.

"See? I told you, Papyrus. Now. You need to do your part too."

"M-MY PART?"

"Yes. I need your tactical, genius puzzling ability." Papyrus blushed, smiling wider than on Christmas morning.

"You will have to devise a puzzle so brilliant that it will trap me for years trying to solve. It must be a very good trap."

"HOW WILL THAT HELP?"

"I... Um, the trap, it will help me travel into the future."

Papyrus nodded, as though he understood her frankly false claims.

"This trap must be impossible to escape, like, a maze that can rearrange itself while I am walking on it."

"I HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT! BUT YOU SKIPPED THAT PUZZLE..."

"Perfect. You must build one that is impossible to escape. When I grow unstable in this timeline... I need to be put there."

"WHY?"

"I cannot reveal too much. Papyrus, you must listen. Do this for me. Make an inescapable trap. When I become unstable, I need to make sure that... all of my, eh, time travel energies are confined to a small area. I could... accidentally wipe out the whole underground, if I'm not careful. Promise me?"

Papyrus nodded solemnly, saluting.

"COUNT ON ME FOR ANYTHING! I WILL HELP YOU!" She smiled, returning the salute.

Her legs shivered. It was time to go.

"Bye. Stay determined." She ran past him. This time, there was no pursuit.

Undyne called Papyrus again. They talked.

~.~.~.~

Waterfall's entrance was musty, but welcome. A single spark of yellow sat unused next to an echo flower. She weighed her chances. She needed a way to get past Undyne, and her current alibi wasn't strong enough. Still, just about any save point was better than the one she currently would reset to.

She saved. Sans's sentry station was empty, mercifully. Grillby's wasn't a place she had any real urge to visit at a time like this. She progressed into the first room, characterized by the aquatic scent and lack of good light. A powerful waterfall gushed next to a rickety bridge. There was a box to place stuff in and a sign disparaging said box. Frisk took inventory:

**Candy Ball**

**Spaghetti Dust**

**Nice Cream**

**Butterscotch Pie**

Versus the box's:

**Spider Cider**

**Spider Donut**

**Toy Knife**

She set the pie and the spaghetti in the box, withdrawing the jug of spider cider. The toy knife and spider donut rested in the box, while Frisk still wore headphones and a tough glove. She tried to set the headphones in the box, but they stayed locked onto her head. Hopefully, they wouldn't incur too much water damage.

Giant rocks rained from the waterfall to her left. The rickety pathway, supported by ancient wooden beams, led the way onward, and did not crumble under the weight of about sixty collisions per second. This puzzle was definitely Undyne's style. Frisk set into a runner's position and zipped across the bridge. Wasting no time, she-

She got a call from Papyrus! She picked up as she reached the other side.

"SO... YOU'RE OFF TO SAVE ALL OF THE MONSTERS OF THE FUTURE."

"Yeah. I was a double agent, spying on humans then giving their whereabouts to monsters."

"WHOA. WAS I THERE, DOING COOL STUFF IN THE FUTURE?"

Frisk smirked. Of course Papyrus wanted to know what he was like. Unfortunately, she didn't have a clue, since she had only ever traveled backwards.

"He's a lot like you. He works hard so that someday he gets everything he deserves. I won't spoil the surprise... But if you keep believing in yourself, your dreams will come true."

"WOW!"

"Sans was there, too. He helped me figure out how to travel back in time."

"NO WAY!"

"Yep. He learned from those sci fi novels. But listen, Papyrus, I need to focus."

"OK! GOODBYE, FUTURE AGENT. NYEH!"

Papyrus hung up. Frisk slid four bridge seeds along the water and made a path for herself, racing onwards. Even if she didn't feel safe enjoying Papyrus's company, she could still call him. That was at least not dangerous, right?

The next room was only faintly lit from where she had come. Endangered sea grass was liberally sprinkled around the floor. She took a few steps in, waiting for something.

Nothing happened. In her memories this was where she first almost met Undyne. Now that she considered it, there were a lot of things that needed to happen involving Undyne, like falling off of a bridge to get to the Trash Zone. Undyne wasn't up there.

Frisk ran ahead.

"W-WAIT!" Someone called out.

She whirled on the source of the-

Oh no. Monster kid.

"H-hey! You're new. Yo, are you here to see Undyne too?"

"I was."

"Coolio. Want to go looking for her together?"

Frisk wanted to stay behind, but without Undyne, if the voice took over, there would be nothing to prevent killing him. She never responded, simply running away. Kid followed, but tripped, and didn't catch up. As she entered the next room, she realized that she had skipped a save point.

The next room housed a sign, and with a quick glance, she recognized this as the bridge seed room. With immense difficulty, she scooped all four seeds into her arms, flicking them across a puddle of water. She ran across while they sprouted, accidentally sliding in the water twice.

Despite the humidity of the area and the frequent exposure to water, Napstablook's headphones rang out in pride. Their jazzy tune had changed into a gentle sonata, which did not fit her current mood at all.

The bridge seed puzzle had one more path to set down, so she did, crossing it to the other side. A doorway led north.

Her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"HUMAN! HELLO! I HAVE A QUESTION."

"Yes?"

She was feeling a little more relieved. If he still wanted to know what she was wearing in this timeline, Undyne was still looking for her. That could set events in order again.

"SHOULD I EAT THE SPAGHETTI YOU MADE? I MEAN... YOU DID NOT WANT IT, SO MAYBE IT IS NOT GOOD?"

She sighed. Of course the timeline wouldn't be corrected so easily.

"Go ahead and- huff- try it," she gritted out as she inhaled sharply. The run through waterfall was more physically taxing than she had planned, not that she had actually made any plans.

The next room was a vast array of flowers and glimmering crystal growths: the wishing room. She heard an echo flower next to her explaining the intricacies of the room and its function. Another lingual plant insisted that King Asgore would free all monsters, and that thousands of monsters wishing together could not be wrong. The glimmering half stars were lit by tiny bioluminescent sparks dancing in the air. She never had found out what they were before, had she? They squeaked when she touched them and liked dark, moist places.

"SANS SAID HE LIKED THE SPAGHETTI!" Papyrus intoned from the phone speaker.

God, she had forgotten about Sans. What would he say about her wildly contrived story?

"OK, HE SAYS I SHOULD LET YOU GET BACK TO WORK. HE SAID THE TIMELINE WON'T CORRECT ITSELF WITHOUT YOU. CRAZY, HUH?"

"Yeah... Ahah..." Frisk ran, bidding him adieu. As she raced past the flowers, Woshua shuffled up.

She asked him to clean her hands. He danced about wildly, spilling soap on every conceivable surface but her. She tried to pick up some of the soap on the ground, but he blasted her with a cannon burst of water.

"UNCLEAN!"

She asked him again to help her wash her hands. With a grin, he produced bubbles from his back, and sprayed them rapid fire.

She dodged the major blast, but held out her hands to touch the bubbles. This didn't totally satisfy him, so he blasted her again with churning water.

Fully soaked, she let him be. He dropped her 25g as he left, as a thank you for the good, clean fun.

She checked the wall on the North side of the room. It crumbled at the slightest touch, allowing her to pass under its dangerous architecture. It opened up into a watery room with a purple dock. The dock was in great condition, never creaking, with no cracks to speak of. Where had the wood come from? Perhaps it was a cleverly painted rock formation, like the gauntlet bridge outside Snowdin. That hypothesis accounted for the lack of damage and the stability, even if the effort necessary for such an endeavor made it an unlikely possibility.

A series of signs proclaimed the past of monster history. She knew their contents, almost by heart, but not well enough to put into exact words. Their meaning was clear: humans were the enemy, the poison, the bane of monsterkind. She wished, that in a past she could not remember, that monsters weren't mistreated as they were. There is nothing wrong with those who are different.

"Easy for you to say," said the voice. Her body ground to a halt, tipping over a little as it tried to rebalance itself.

" _Hypocrite_."

She panicked, darting along the stone dock. The voice laughed maniacally as she nearly tripped over her own two left feet.

The next section of bridge was only illuminated from a distance, boasting no natural light of its own. Undyne wasn't here to throw glowing spears, either. Fortunately, that meant that she wouldn't need to struggle through her deadly gauntlet and possibly reset, but now she had a different problem. Tremors wracked her arms. They had no clear aim.

Oh god. The tough glove. If her arms took control of her, they could slice and chop away at any unsuspecting monster she found. She ran.

Every step triggered a shiver, worse than the last. It was like invisible spears were shooting up from the ground and every collision made her shake. About midway through her panicked dash she crouched in the fetal position. She felt like vomiting, but despite her previous claims otherwise to Papyrus, she didn't have the capacity. Bile licked at the edge of her throat and sank back down. Dizzy didn't cover her current feeling.

The tremors quieted.

She was OK. Thanking the "stars" in the wishing room, she raced ahead. She hadn't realized how much each reset had accelerated the process of... Well, she didn't have the strength to put it into words. Demonification wasn't right. Slow descent into madness wasn't the best choice, either. She'd stick with just "descent" for now.

The room ended in a pathway of more endangered grass, which she waded through. A tiny dock greeted her, complemented by more glimmers of crystal on the wall.

A small archway led into a room with a table lying around. A hunk of cheese had crystallized onto of it, accompanied by a save point. Yellow light recorded her determination and experience.

The next segment of empty, aquatic real estate was inhabited by a telescope and another box. A path upwards led to a poor rabbit selling ice cream. She decided to conserve her cash, but gave him a warm smile and an encouraging hug. The rabbit grinned and promised that he would find a way to succeed for her. The rest of the chamber formed a web of dark pathways. Short reeds and steamy bubbles indicated the boundaries of waterfall water, while immobile lily pads floated quietly.

Aaron flexed in!

Frisk flexed back, muscles raising one tenth of a centimeter.

Aaron flexed back, muscles bulging.

Frisk flexed again! She was reminded of a strange dream.

Aaron flexed twice as hard. Attack went up!

Frisk FLEXED ON 'EM?

Aaron flexed back! He flexed out of the room! Frisk got 0 EXP and 30G.

She continued down the corridor with greater haste. Echo flowers spewed their stories of passing conversations, like silly wishes and dark fears. She never heard the full tales, only catching snatchets of snatchets. Navigating through the maze, she came upon a more straightforward tunnel, ringed with a moat of water. Onion-San lived here, but she ran right past the vegetable squid. It cried out for her companionship, but she had a mission.

More tunnels. More signs. More water. There was a room with a piano; she bypassed it. A room with a rained on statue, she skipped over. The next section housed a bin of umbrellas, which she neglected in favor of continuing her harsh jog.

A stitch in her side made her wheeze, slow a little, but not stop. Dashing over the watery floor, she was pelted by tiny daggers of water. Her reflection stared at her through a black puddle on the ground. Something yellow was also wavering on the surface of the puddle. She turned to see a familiar face.

Monster kid was curled up in an alcove, sleeping something off. His face was black and blue. Despite her trepidation, he looked in need of dire assistance. She shook him awake.

"Ah... Wha?"

"Are you alright?"

"Hnnnnghhhh..." He squinted, lolling his head to stretch his neck. "Ah... I'm better now." He stood.

"Your face... It's really bruised."

"Oh... I um... fell. A lot." He smirked, clearly embarrassed.

"Sorry, then. Here," she reached into her bag, pulling out a Nice Cream. "Please eat this." She opened the wrapper for him, holding out the melted, soggy remnants of a creamy delight. Maybe she should have chosen a different edible item.

"I... Um, nah, I um," he blushed vividly, speaking a few more nonsense words before dashing through the rest of the passage. Since, regrettably, she was heading the same way, she followed.

She passed an echo flower, following his muddy, dinosaur footprints. Another chamber revealed the majesty of New Home, visible at a distance. Kid was staring reverently out at it.

"Hey," she said, sitting next to him. He seemed more relaxed.

"Hey."

It was peaceful.

"Guess what that is?" He said, turning to face her. The way his voice cracked was adorable.

"I... Don't know. Haven't been there before," she lied.

"That's our capital, New Home. The King lives there. Did you know, he taught us at school once?" She shook her head. Something about this view made her feel safer, as though the voice couldn't interfere and the shivers would never come back. A light wind, no doubt fake, ruffled her bangs. It smelled like a swimming pool.

"He taught us about responsibility. When you plant seeds... Umm... Oh..." He blushed.

"What?"

"Wh-when you plant seeds, roots grow. Good monsters take care of all of the plant's roots? Something like that."

Frisk nodded. He put in a good effort.

"I never see you at school. Do you go somewhere else?"

"Em... I'm... homeschooled."

"You're a strange monster," he said. He looked so relaxed, sitting on the cobblestones. "But, you're cool."

She smiled. She wasn't a monster at all, even if half of her wanted to be.

"So, now what?" He asked. "Where are you off to?"

"Oh."

She didn't have a good answer. She had already lied to him about never having seen this room before. In a sense, she was right; none of her other memories of this chamber were quite like this one. A silence this profound yet comfortable was rare. She didn't want to leave. Despite that... she knew. She had to end the anomaly's reign of terror soon.

"I... I don't really want to say."

"That's fine," he said, turning to face her. He was still blushing. "Maybe we could hang out, or something." His face looked everywhere but at her, but they made brief eye contact in the time it took for his eyelids to cross the room.

Oh.

He was flirting with her.

She needed to leave quickly.

Her face was slightly obscured behind shadow, but not enough to block out an entirely involuntary grimace. Her entire face was... shaking uncontrollably, in the literal sense. The voice was making a move.

It had got hold of her face. She stood, making a break for the next save point, as her mouth started trying to swear a torrent of obscenities. She covered her mouth with her other hand.

"...What did you just say?" Kid asked, face cocked. He hadn't heard her.

"I WON'T DA-" She clamped her mouth shut with both hands.

The voice continued in her head. _I won't date a stupid, armless waste of space_. _I_ _won't_ _date a stupid, armless waste of space_. _I_ _won't_ _date a stupid, armless waste of space_. It created a mantra for itself.

She nearly swore on her own, worrying that the full words had somehow escaped. She ran up ahead. He followed, for some ungodly reason.

A chase ensued, a chase she easily won as he repeatedly fell flat, crumpling into a ball a record five times. His footing was as unsure as her future, but he barely managed to keep up, to her dismay and the anomaly's delight.

"Mmmm...!"

The screams were increasing in shrillness. Her own fear augmented each cry. Her tongue snaked out, licking her dirty fingers. Startled, her hands lost their grip long enough for another six syllables.

"DATE A STUPID ARMLESS-"

He stopped. They locked eyes. She has wrestling her mouth shut, her eyes became tight lidded, and she failed to block out the rest of the cursed mantra.

"WASTE OF SPACE!"

It had said its piece. She stuttered back into place. She imagined the anomaly smirking.

_Now, if you want to undo that, it's really quite simple._

She blinked. It had blackmailed her into trying to reset.

"S-s-s..." She quavered. Monster Kid stood still, unblinking. He wasn't looking at her anymore.

"Do... I..." He plopped down, sitting crosslegged. All she could see was a raw, unblinking shock poured out before her eyes. He was so insecure, and she had just mangled his self confidence, maybe for life. 

"Sticks and stones," the anomaly chuckled.

"K-kid... I... NO! I DIDN'T MEAN THAT! I'M SORRY! I'M SO SO SORRY! PLEASE- IT- it... you..."

She cried, wanting to sink into the ground like the weed she was.

Weed.

Flowey might be watching. Maybe he had seen the whole thing. Maybe he could convince Kid it wasn't her.

She was grasping for straws. Even if he was here, he wouldn't willingly help her with anything except suicide.

"Flowey," she called out. "I know you're there."

But nobody came.

Kid was still catatonic, and pinpricks of water that definitely were not raindrops marked his face. His nose was running, but he was barely breathing.

Should she reset? Could she?

There was a save point not two feet away, and also no telling what plans the anomaly was ready to spring. It had lured her into a false sense of security, then struck back with twice the power. It could do worse next time than a few harsh words.

Kid broke down and cried. A sort of emotional detachment started affecting her.

She chose empathy. She knelt to him, trying to push tears that she knew should be there to her face. Everything felt numb, which was a worse sign.

"Kid, I... "

He stared back at her, face blotchy, eyes tilted. She had never seen such a dark look from him, and that scared her.

"You're not sorry, huh. You really are a... a human, you know that?"

He blinked very slowly.

"I... hate your guts."

Monster souls are made of compassion, Frisk recalled. Compassion lets magic exist, lets monsters take corporeal form. This one, in this moment, was not made of compassion. Parts of him welled up with newfound emotions, the kinds only supposed to exist in humans. The child had laid his heart bare, and she had insulted his worst insecurities. Her taunt stung.

"Serves you right, crybabies," the voice whispered to her. "Honestly, didn't take much at all."

She burst into tears, trying to hug him. He sidestepped, and she learned firsthand what it felt like to fall in the dirt and mud. She got to her knees, trying to get back to eye level with him.

Suddenly, he gasped. His breathing constricted, he doubled over.

"Are you-"

He headbutted her away while she cringed back. She searched for something to give him, anything-

She held out the candy ball, the jug of cider-

He ran off, more like limping than any speedy motion. His deathly glare begged her not to follow.

He coughed up dust.

Oh god.

She had to reset. She had... Somehow...

He coughed up more dust. She ran to him, hoping that if she could just... get there...

Her glove moved on its own, like she was going to grab out to catch him. It delivered a wallop instead, emitting an unsettling crunch. 

He collapsed.

He collapsed into a fine powder.

Oh god. Oh god oh no no no no no no.

She cried for what felt like hours.

~.~.~.~

 

<3 RESET    CONTINUE

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The shiba inu in the parka is grimacing. It wants to change something. You ask what is wrong.
> 
> "Beta reader. I need a beta reader for this." It mumbles absently for a moment. You give it a gentle pat. Like all dogs, the shiba is very happy to have your affection.
> 
> "Who's a good dog," you say, scratching behind its ears.
> 
> "WOOF!"
> 
> The dog accidentally clicks submit, allowing you to pet it.


End file.
